It was a tale of two scrums as the Marin Academy girls soccer team came away with a 1-0 home win against Marin Catholic on Friday afternoon.
MA (3-0-1) was able to convert a loose ball in front of MC’s net into a goal by Kacy Walker in the 48th minute then MA goalie Alegra Huck made a stop on a similar play by MC (2-2-2) in the 73rd minute to preserve the victory.
“It was one of those goal-mouth scrums where anything can happen,” MC coach Isaiah Schwerin said. “They scored off of theirs and we didn’t on ours and those were kind of the two big chances of the game.”
Marin Academy’s goal came following a free kick taken by midfielder Raya Leikin. The ball fell to Walker, whose initial shot was saved by MC goalie Finn Seymore. Walker, while lying on her back, got a foot to the loose ball for the game’s only goal.
Walker scores for a 1-0 MA lead. #marinsoccer pic.twitter.com/PDQIN9MtBU
— Ian Ross (@IRossMIJ) December 14, 2024
“We got a free kick outside the (18-yard box) and Raya served a beautiful ball in,” Walker said. “Finn had a great first save. It kind of ricocheted off her and I tapped it in off her deflection. … It was definitely a scramble but those are the goals where it’s hardest to track people when everyone’s kind of in the box. It was a great first save by Finn but our coaches always emphasize staying with the play even if you think the goalie is going to save it.”
MA’s back four and midfielders had done a good job of limiting MC’s attacking options in the game up to that point so Schwerin opted to move Siena White – one of the two high-profile additions to MC’s roster this season – up from center back to striker with about 25 minutes left to play.
“(White) is going to Georgetown,” Schwerin said. “She plays for Bay Area Surf so last year she did not join us but she came back this year. She skipped her sophomore year. She’s obviously a big player for us.”
MA, led by center backs Steph Zola and Walker, continued to limit MC’s chances until the 73rd minute. Sloane Carey served a dangerous corner kick into the box, leading to the game’s second crucial scrum.
“There was a scrum in the box with some shoving and pushing,” Zola said. “Ultimately, Alegra was able to hold onto the ball and make the save.”
MA saw out the game from there, picking up its second win over an MCAL team this week. MA began a run of five consecutive games against MCAL opponents with a 0-0 tie against Archie Williams last week before notching wins against Terra Linda and MC.
“We already played two MCAL teams and they were both very tough battles,” Walker said. “It’s definitely setting the tone because we have Tam and Redwood next week, which will definitely be hard.”
MA hosts Redwood on Tuesday and plays Tam at the University tournament at Beach Chalet in San Francisco on Friday. MA also plays Branson on Feb. 8.
“We’ve had a handful of girls unable to play because of injury and we’ve relied on everyone,” MA coach Sarah Rafanelli said. “I felt really impressed with people coming off the bench like Cece Dickinson and Izzy Bergholt. That’s always hard to do and they did a great job today of coming of the bench and having an immediate impact. Our back four that played the whole game did a tremendous job with just really solid defense.”
MC is also banged up after playing five games in eight days and hosts Branson next Tuesday in a non-league battle between two of the top contenders for the MCAL title. MC is eagerly anticipating the debut of its other big addition in sophomore Nora Snearly, who will be eligible to play after Dec. 25 following her transfer from Cardinal Newman.
“Nora Snearly is a special player,” Schwerin said. “She’s going to help our team in a couple of big ways and one is linking the midfield to the forward line and also providing some goals as well. We have a lot of dependency on Sloane right now and we need someone else who can put the ball in the back of the net.”
